Contains a variety of registers that document several administrative functions of Southwestern State Hospital. Included here are a book of signed employee contracts, a visitor's register, and a ward property report book featuring periodic inventories of items on Ward 8 of the hospital. Also included are two morning report books that contain statistical information regarding the number of employees and number of patients present each day. The first morning report book also contains a list of officers and employees on furlough in 1888.

Arranged alphabetically by type or title of record.

Contains one volume of architectural drawings and site plans for Southwestern State Hospital. The drawings include "present" and "future" buildings, so it is likely that the plans were drawn several years after the original buildings were built. Included are drawings of the annex to the main building, patient wards, the tubercular building, and an addition to the criminal insane building. The architectural firm responsible for the drawings is unknown.

Restricted: Finance and supply records containing patient names and identifying information that are less than 125 years old. Due to the presence of restricted patient information, these records may require review by an archivist and/or redaction (if it is possible) before they are served. Contains a variety of financial account books and inventory ledgers, many of which were maintained by the hospital steward. The volumes cover daily expenses, receipts, disbursements, sales, pay patients, the contingent fund, supply inventories, as well as farm and auditing records. The volumes also contain budget information and document the ordering of food and other supplies for the hospital. The second Auditing Book also contains list of bills for each month for 1904-1905 and Ward Night Reports for 1913.

Arranged alphabetically by type or title of record.

Contains letter books made up of onion skin copies of letters written by the hospital steward (1903-1915) and the superintendent (1901). The steward's letters include information on supplies bought and received, as well as the other day-to-day business and operational functions of the hospital. The superintendent's letter book contains letters written to patients' families and are more personal in nature. Also included here is a book that contains the names and addresses of the superintendent's correspondents. Most correspondents are friends or family members of hospital patients, so the correspondent's relation to a particular patient is also noted. Researchers should note that the letter books are extrememly fragile and sometimes hard to read due to the poor condition of the paper.

Arranged alphabetically by type or title of record.

Restricted: Meeting minutes that are less than 125 years old. Due to the presence of restricted patient information, these records may require review by an archivist and/or redaction (if it is possible) before they are served. Contains one volume of meeting minutes of Southwestern State Hospital's Executive Committee and one volume of meeting minutes of the hospital's Special Board of Directors. The Executive Committee was composed of a small number of members of the Southwestern State Board of Directors. The committee met on a monthly basis and was responsible for reviewing the superintendent's reports, auditing the steward's monthly expense accounts, and overseeing other matters that arose between Board meetings. In 1903, the original Board of Directors for each state hospital was replaced by a three-person group called the Special Board of Directors. The duties of the Special Board of Directors were very similiar to those of the Executive Committee. The Special Board of Directors answered to the newly-created General Board of Directors, which was composed of all the members of each hospital's Special Board. The General Board connected all of the state-run hospitals for the first time. In 1937, the individual Special Boards were abolished and the General Board was renamed the State Hospital Board.

Arranged alphabetically by administrative body, and then chronologically within each volume.

Contains case books and other records associated with patients at Southwestern State Hospital. The case books are divided by sex and contain indices. The case books feature references to the patient's health, medications and activities. The accounts sometimes include admission information and medical history as well. The case books each start during a particular year and were added to at sporadic intervals until the book became full and another volume was started. The date spans given to the volumes are general date ranges. There are instances when an entry was added that was outside the official date span of the volume, usually only by a year or two. In some cases, the doctor ran out of room and continued a patient's account in the next volume, usually with a note as to page number. Most of the case books contain a standardized form for recording certain patient health information as well as room for doctor's notes. Additionally, in some of the case books small photographs of each patient are attached to his or her record. The most recent volumes are referred to as "clinical records," but contain the same type of information as the case books. Also included here is one volume of annual lists of patients at the hospital (1887-1904) and an account of clothing and valuables received from patients when they were admitted (1903-1917).

Arranged alphabetically by type or title of record. Case books are arranged according to patient sex and then in numerical order.